Kick-em Jenny

Today on our 30 mile sail from Grenada to Carriacou we saw all kinds of weather and interesting natural phenomenon. It started out rather damp and dreary with almost no wind. Then we had a nice rainbow arcing right over Seahorse V.

I kept telling myself that soon they would sail to the end of it and I would get a fabulous photo, but that never happened. What was the error in my thinking? Can anyone guess? *

After passing the north end of Grenada, we punched out across the channel and then sailed right next to the underwater volcano called Kick-em Jenny. Although we saw other boats sail directly through the exclusion zone, we decided to play it safe and we're glad we did because I swear we sailed through some bubbles that came from vents. We both looked at each other and said, "What was that?!" as we passed through the light blue bubbly water. Creepy, especially when you read about how those bubbles can affect boats.

Learn more here: http://www.allatsea.net/grenadas-underwater-volcano-kick-em-jenny-stirs/

By that time the wind had freshened and we were under double reefed main and the staysail, but it was still a pleasant sail. We anchored in Tyrell Bay on the island of Carriacou at 1:00 pm just in time for a late lunch and a nap. And I'm just glad the volcano didn't do this today.

*Here's why I would never have gotten a photo of Seahorse V at the end of the rainbow: The rainbow isn't a solid object, it's just light refracting through water. My view of it "moves" as I move therefore Seahorse V would never get to the end of it unless I were to stop and/or change my position relative to them.

See?

A random photo posted to Facebook in two seconds gets 407 "Likes" and 39 comments, but blogs that take hours get no comments? I don't get it.

 

 

 

 

This is the photo and what I said was: "Just part of  'Living the Dream". Why is that so likeable?

 

It's a big ocean

Sometimes we have to step back and take a good look to see just how far we have traveled in our little boat. We are now in Grenada, just about the southernmost island in the Caribbean. (Trinidad and Tobago are still considered to be Caribbean Islands and they are even further south.)

Florida is 1500 miles away and San Francisco is 4000 miles away. Those are flying miles, not sailing miles, so actually those places are much, much further away for us.

The blue line on the map shows our route so far. It is a big ocean and we travel very slowly. Six months ago we went through the Panama Canal. Our plan for the next 6 months is to sail north up through the Caribbean Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba, then be in Florida by June.

Leapers Hill

Yesterday's shore excursion took us to the north end of Grenada and Leapers Hill. This is the spot where, over 350 years ago, a handful of Caribs leaped to their deaths rather than surrender to the French.

One must walk through a cemetery to get to the precipice. Rather fitting, isn't it?

 

This is the gorgeous view from the edge. We could see Ronde Island, Carriacou (our next destination), and Petite Martinique.

That's an interesting detail about Caribbean sailing that is so different from all the other sailing we've done: you can usually see your next destination before you set sail.

On our way back to our boat we passed this Carriacou Sloop which offers cruises for the tourists. It was built on the Island of Carriacou about ten years ago using traditional methods. The cruise also serves snacks and drinks using locals products. We hope to see some of these boats being built when we get to Carriacou. 

 

The Colors of Grenada

Abandoned Red Door

 Blue Water, Red Roofs, Green Hills

Brightly Painted Boat

Soft Green Moss

Hot Pink Flowers

Bougainvillea Over Blue Door

Striking Contrast

Orange Mace in the Sunshine

Bright Blue Door at Belmont Estate

River Antoine Rum Distillery



From Cane to Rum the Old Fashioned Way



The River Antoine Rum Distillery has been in business since 1785. The machinery is powered by the River Antoine via this giant water wheel which is said to be over 150 years old. We were lucky enough on our tour to actually see it in operation.
I made a little video (click here) of the water wheel in operation.


Antique Water Powered Crushing Mill

Bundles of Stalks Going to Crusher

 

The Crusher

 

The bundled canes are put through the crusher a couple of times until all the juice is extracted. The juice runs down to the boiler room through a tiled trough. The dried canes are now called bagasse. They are wheeled out of the crushing room to dry further in the sun and then used to heat and concentrate the juice and also to fertilize the fields.

 

Here is a video of the crusher in action.  (Click here)

Burning the Bagasse Under the Boiler Room

 

The furnace below the boiler room is fueled by the dried bagasse. It produces the gentle heat needed to concentrate and sweeten the juice. In the boiler room above the furnace the juice is moved from pan to pan. The first pan is furthest from the fire and each pan gets closer to the fire until the last one is directly over the fire. The juice is moved from pan to pan with giant long-handled ladles... 



The Boiler Room

 

until it is finally scooped into a trough which carries it to the fermentation vats.

Ladling the Juice

After fermenting in large concrete vats for almost two weeks, the fermented juice is distilled in these copper stills from Louisville, Kentucky and stored until bottled by hand. The whole process is very simple, organic, and labor intensive.

The Still

Here are the finished products. They make a 150 proof rum which is too strong to even export, but they produce such a small volume that it's all consumed here on the island anyway. They also make a weaker version (which is allowed on the airplanes) for the tourists to take home. They also make two rum punches; one lemon flavored and the other kind of chocolate flavored. We tasted them all, but we didn't buy any. I guess we are not really into rum, but the tour was fascinating. 

Rivers Rum

Belmont Estate

View of Belmont Estate Across the Drying Rack Area



 The second stop on our island tour was Belmont Estate. Owned by the same family for over seventy years, the estate emulates a typical 17th century plantation. They grow and process organic cocoa beans, nutmeg, goat cheese, and other food crops. They also offer tours and a very nice organic restaurant and gift shop.

 

Weighing Cocoa Beans

 Back in Mexico we visited a cocoa producer where we were allowed to help roast the beans and grind the cocoa. Belmont estate is much larger, and they showed us some of the steps we had missed at the Mexican factory like the fermentation and drying process. The freshly harvested beans, covered with their slimy coating, are layered into stalls and covered with banana leaves where they ferment for a week.

 

Drying Racks of Cocoa Beans

 The beans are then dried for a week or two on huge racks either in this covered shed or outside in the sunshine. They are turned daily then bagged and sent to organic chocolate manufacturers. In the old days the beans were turned by women shuffling their feet through the racks and were "danced" on in large pots to polish them before shipping.

 

Cocoa Dancing Pots

 

Belmont Estate Products are Certified 100% Organic

 

 Finally we got to taste the chocolate. The samples were delicious and we drank every drop and ate every last piece!

 

 

  

Belmont Estate also has a herd of goats and produces organic goat cheese. We found the goats to be very friendly and entertaining. This baby was only three days old.

 

 

Friendly Goats

 

This lovely lady goat may have contributed to the goat cheese we bought there.

 

 

Belmont Estate was a very pleasant stop on our island tour.

 

Stockton Sailing Club Grenada Branch

Regarding my previous post:

Thank you Danny, Dave and Kathy, James, Bud and Bettie, and Richard for commenting. I can't tell you how nice it is to know that thousands of miles away, people are actually reading and enjoying our blog. It's amazing what a comment now and then can do for one's morale. (Hint, hint) We will now resume our regularly scheduled programming.

 

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We've been in Grenada for almost two weeks now and are still searching for a nice restaurant. I found a place called Dodgy Dock recently that sounded interesting so Thursday we walked over to True Blue Bay. This small bay is home to the True Blue Bay Boutique Resort, Horizon Yacht Charters, and the Dodgy Dock Restaurant.

 

 

As we were ordering our drinks, Malcolm recognized a man from our sailing club back home in Stockton. He and his wife invited us to join them and we had a lovely evening with Angela and Bill Chapman. Their boat is on the hard at Spice Island Marine and they have returned to Grenada to get it launched, recommisioned, and sailing again.

 

Now, what are the chances of running into someone from your hometown 4000 miles away? Apparently about the same as getting hit by lightning. I guess we're just lucky that way.

Who Cares?

The frustration of publishing this blog with sketchy Internet is sometimes overwhelming. I need to know who cares if I continue to bang my head against this bloggy wall. Perhaps I should resort to the 30 second "sound bite" and just post to Facebook; is everyone's attention span really that small? Please convince me to continue by posting a comment. If I receive even 5 comments I will continue, but less than that, maybe not....

Laura Spice and Herb Garden

 

Flowers of a Palm Tree

 

Yesterday we took an island tour with the crews of two other boats here in Grenada. Our first stop was at the Laura Spice and Herb Garden where the guide showed us many of the herbs and spices that grow here on Grenada helping to give it the title of the"Spice Island". Our senses were overwhelmed with all the things we saw, smelled and tasted there.

 

Fruit and Flowers of the Noni Tree

 

Fruit and Seeds of the Lipstick Tree

 

Nutmeg Fruit

Nutmeg is huge here and wherever there are tourists there are local people selling nutmeg seeds, ground nutmeg, and spice necklaces. Below you see the dried husk, the mace covering, and the nutmeg seed.

Nutmeg



Old Nutmeg Dryer

Spice Necklace with Cocoa Beans, Nutmeg Seeds, Whole Cloves, Turmeric, Ginger, Bay Leaves, and River Seeds

Detail of  Spice Necklace